Palestinians were burying their dead today after the bloodiest 24 hours yet in Israel's six-day offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Strikes by Israeli warplanes killed 54 people in the narrow coastal territory, according to Palestinian officials, including one overnight attack which killed 18 members of the same family.

And this afternoon thousands were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza after a leaflet drop warning of a possible campaign by Israeli forces that could start today.

Any move to send ground troops into the densely populated Gaza strip would likely lead to a sharp increase in civilian casualties. So far 166 people have been killed, 30 of them children, officials said.

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The father of three-year-old Palestinian child, Mouid al-Araj, carries his son's body during his funeral in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, today

Palestinian mourners pray over the bodies of 18 members of the Batsh family, after their house was targeted by an Israeli air strike just before midnight last night

Mourners carry the body of one of the 18 family members who were killed in an Israeli airstrike to a mosque prior to the burial in Gaza City

Palestinians offer their prayers over the grave of a member of the al-Batsh family who was killed in Saturday night's Israeli airstrike

Palestinian children inspect graves ahead of the funeral of 18 members of al-Batsh family who were killed the previous night in Israeli strikes that hit their house

The son of one of the Palestinian members of Tayseer Al-Batsh's family sobs during the funeral today, after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike last night

Mass funerals took place today even as
Palestinian militants kept up rocket salvoes deep into the Jewish
state, and Western foreign ministers who met today said a ceasefire was
an urgent priority.

It came
as Israel escalated its attacks on Hamas-controlled Gaza with an
amphibious commando assault early this morning against a suspected
rocket-launching site in the north of the territory.

Ignoring
international appeals for a cease-fire, Israel widened its bombardment
of Gaza yesterday. One Israeli warplane hit a home for the disabled,
killing two patients and wounding four others.

A second strike flattened a home and damaged a nearby mosque during
evening prayers, killing 18 members of one family, and wounding 50, according
to Palestinian officials.

Plume: Smoke rises following an Israeli strike on Gaza, seen from the Israel Gaza border earlier today

A Palestinian man inspects his vehicle after it was thrown on it's side in an Israeli air raid this morning

Fear: Palestinians travel to a shelter at a UN school after evacuating their homes near the border in Gaza City this evening

This morning Israeli forces dropped leaflets into the town of Beit Lahiya near Gaza's northern border with Israel. They
read: 'Those who fail to comply with the instructions to leave
immediately will endanger their lives and the lives of their families.
Beware.'

The Israeli
military told the residents of three of Beit Lahiya's 10 neighbourhoods
to get out of the town of 70,000 by midday on Sunday. UN officials said
some 4,000 people had fled south to eight UN schools in Gaza City.

A
senior Israeli military officer, in a telephone briefing with foreign
reporters, said Israel would 'strike with might' in the Beit Lahiya area
from the late evening hours on Sunday.

He
did not say if this would include an expansion of an air and naval
offensive into a ground operation in the north of the narrow, densely
populated Mediterranean enclave.

'The
enemy has built rocket infrastructure in-between the houses (in Beit
Lahiya),' the officer said. 'He wants to trap me into an attack and into
hurting civilians.'

Blast: An Israeli 155mm artillery unit located next to the Israeli border with Gaza, fires toward targets in the Gaza Strip

Wrath: A picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Sderot shows rockets being fired from the Gaza strip into Israel (left). Right, an explosion is seen in the northern Gaza Strip after an Israeli air strike

A photograph released by the Israeli Government press office showing the Israeli 'Iron Dome' defense system as it is activated near the city of Ashdod, Israel

Israel is yet to launch an invasion of Gaza, but overnight IDF commandos made an amphibious assault on a Hamas site inside the coastal territory

Israel's parliament recently authorised the mobilisation of 40,000 reservists, prompting speculation that the IDF will soon launch an invasion of Gaza

Show of might: Israeli soldiers and tanks are seen massing at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip today

At
schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City,
Beit Lahiya residents arrived in donkey carts filled with children,
luggage and mattresses, while others came by car or taxi. One man, still
in his pyjamas, said some inhabitants had received phone calls warning
them to clear out.

'What could we do? We had to run in order to save the lives of our children,' said Salem Abu Halima, 25, a father of two.

The
Gaza Interior Ministry, in a statement on Hamas radio, dismissed the
Israeli warnings as 'psychological warfare' and instructed those who
left their homes to return and others to stay put.

Dozens
of houses in parts of Beit Lahiya were levelled by Israeli bulldozers
during a month-long Gaza war in late 2008 and early 2009. Israel says
such structures provide cover for militants and rocket launchers.

Witness: Civilians wait to see Israeli attacks inside Gaza from the top of a hill on the sixth day of Israel's operation 'Protective Edge'

The
leaflets marked the first time Israel had warned Palestinians to vacate
dwellings in such a wide area. Previous warnings, by telephone or
so-called 'knock-on-the-door' missiles without explosive warheads, had
been directed at individual homes slated for attack.

'They are sending warning messages,'
resident Mohammad Abu Halemah said. 'Once we received the message, we
felt scared to stay in our homes. We want to leave.'

Today an evacuation is due to begin of
800 Palestinians who hold foreign passports, including about 300
American nationals, said the Coordination of Government Activities in
the Territories.

U.S. citizen Ahmed Mohana said he had mixed feelings about leaving friends and family behind in the troubled Gaza Strip.

'It
is very hard, it is very tough,' he said. 'We are leaving our family,
our relatives and brothers and sisters in this horrible situation - we
have to do what we have to do.'

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the destroyed home after an Israeli airstrike in the north of Gaza City, killing 12 members of his family, according to Palestinian officials

A man sits in front of the damaged house as Israel continued its assault on Gaza, targeting what it claimed where sites linked to Hamas militants

The strike which destroyed this home also damaged a nearby mosque which was full of people observing evening prayers

A wider view shows the damaged home, which was hit as Israeli forces launched an amphibious assault on Gaza's northern coast

The Israeli air force dropped leaflets telling Palestinians to leave their homes in northern Gaza in advance of a 'short and temporary' campaign in the area today

Israel's military used Twitter to announce this morning's commando raid on Gaza

This morning's commando raid on Gaza's coast was the first time that Israel has made a ground incursion into Gaza in the six-day-long attack on the territory, which is effectively cut off from the world by Israel.

With aerial support from fighter jets, the Israeli force attacked a site in northern Gaza used to launch long-range rockets, an Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, said.

Militants opened fire, wounding four commandos, but the launch site was hit, he told Reuters. Hamas said its fighters had fired at the Israeli force offshore, preventing them from landing.

Lt. Col Lerner said the forces had 'completed their mission' and that the results of the raid 'would be the first published ground activity' by naval troops in Gaza.

Israel says a ground invasion of Gaza remains an option, and it has already mobilised about 20,000 reservists to do so, but most attacks have so far been from the air, hitting some 1,200 targets in the territory.

The militant wing of Hamas, the Islamist political party which controls Gaza, has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, striking the deepest inside the country ever.

The Israeli military said more than 800 rockets had been launched since its offensive began on Tuesday. Israel said it has carried out 1,320 attacks on militant targets, half against what it called rocket launch sites, and the rest at alleged command centres, rocket manufacturing installations, warehouses and smuggling tunnels.

Gaza's Interior Ministry urged residents in the area to ignore Israel's warnings and to stay in their homes, saying the announcement was Israeli 'psychological warfare' and an attempt to create confusion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed international calls for a ceasefire while defending his country's offensive in Gaza during appearances on U.S. television today.

Netanyahu appealed for sympathy for Israelis under siege from militant rockets as a warning siren followed by an all-clear signal punctuated his interview on CBS' 'Face the Nation'.

'When we began this interview we were under bomb alert and as the minutes passed now we're told people can go out into the open air again,' he said.

'This is the kind of reality we're living in. And we'll do whatever is necessary to put an end to it.'

Netanyahu urged Americans to imagine that U.S. cities from the East Coast to Colorado, or 80 percent of the population, were under threat of rocket attack, with only 60 to 90 seconds to reach a bomb shelter.

'That's what we're experiencing right now, as we speak,' he said.

In a sign that the conflict might widen, Israel launched attacks across its northern border into Lebanon late last night in response to two rockets fired from there at northern Israel.

There were no injuries or damage, but Israel fears Lebanese militant groups such as Hezbollah may try to open a second front.

Palestinian families travel to a UN school to seek shelter after evacuating their homes near the border in Gaza City

Palestinian boys draw on a chalk board at the UN school after their families evacuated their homes near the border in Gaza City

A rocket hits a person in this picture drawn by a Palestinian boy as he shelters from Israeli airstrikes in the UN school

Women and children rest in a classroom at the UN school as the Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues outside

Their evacuation follows a leaflet drop by the Israeli airforce telling residents of northern Gaza to leave their homes in advance of a stepped-up offensive in the area

Overcome: A mourner closes his eyes as he stands close to an open refrigerator in the morgue of the Shifa hospital, where the bodies of 18 family members are prepared for their funeral in Gaza City

Israel has said it's acting in self-defense against rockets that have disrupted life across much of the country. It also accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from there.

Critics say Israel's heavy bombardment of one of the most densely populated territories in the world is itself the main factor putting civilians at risk.

HAMAS USES PSYCH WARFARE

Hamas militants warned Israel for the first time, and in Hebrew, of an impending rocket attack, adopting psychological warfare with the Jewish state while trying to raise the morale of Gaza's Palestinians harder hit by Israeli bombardment.

Hamas's domestic standing has taken a beating in peacetime as poverty and hunger have worsened in the Gaza Strip, worsened by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade and the demolition of border smuggling tunnels that were the lifeblood of its economy.

On Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV at 8pm on Saturday, the voice of Abu Ubeida - the spokesman of the group's armed wing - broadcast the warning.

'Our rockets have struck Tel Aviv!' the loudspeaker of a Gaza mosque blared afterwards. The roars of men and boys arose from the windows of houses: 'God is Great!'

No rocket actually hit Tel Aviv. But that did not matter in Gaza.

Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said that while using human shields violates international humanitarian law, 'this does not give Israel the excuse to violate international humanitarian law as well.'

As the international community grew increasingly concerned about the situation in Gaza British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for immediate action to quell the crisis during telephone calls to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.

He said Israel had a right to defend itself from rocket attacks but urged both sides to work to restore a ceasefire and said Britain stands ready to provide what support it can.

Mr Hague said: 'I told minister Lieberman that continuing rocket attacks from Gaza are completely unacceptable. Israel has a right to defend itself against such attacks, but the whole world wanted to see de-escalation.

'I welcomed president Abbas's call for a ceasefire agreed by both sides, and urged him to do all he could to help bring this about. I offered my condolences for the loss of civilian lives in Gaza.'

Mr Hague is expected to talk to international counterparts, including US secretary of state John Kerry, about the need for 'urgent, concerted' action to secure a ceasefire.

His Labour opposition counterpart
Douglas Alexander warned the spiralling violence risks 'fuelling yet
more extremism and conflict'. The shadow foreign secretary said: 'The
spiral of violence that has engulfed Gaza, southern Israel and the West
Bank is bringing untold suffering to innocent people.

'I
condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by Gaza-based militants. No
government on earth would tolerate such attacks on its citizens but the
rapidly growing number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza by
Israeli air strikes risks fuelling yet more extremism and conflict.

'The
life of a Palestinian child is worth no less than the life of an
Israeli child. Every life is equal, irrespective of religion or
nationality.

'A spiral of violence that reinforces the insecurity of
Israelis and the humiliation of Palestinians leads only to further
suffering.'

Displaced Palestinians seek refuge at a United Nations school in Gaza City after fleeing their homes in the early hours of the morning

More people arrive at the UN school. Israel accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from residential areas

Youngsters arrive at the UN school carrying what few possessions they are able to carry

The Israeli military has said it has targeted sites with links to Hamas and that it issues early warnings before attacking. But Mr Michaeli said civilians have been killed when Israel bombed homes of Hamas militants or when residents were unable to leave their homes quickly enough following Israeli warnings.

An army statement said that from Friday morning to Saturday morning, Israel targeted 158 targets 'affiliated with Hamas terrorism' in Gaza, including dozens of rocket launchers and a mosque where Hamas stored rockets and weapons.

Israel also targeted several civilian institutions with presumed ties to Hamas, widening its range of targets. Palestinian officials said this included a technical college, a media office, a small Kuwait-funded charity and a branch of an Islamic bank.

The Israeli military did not mention these institutions in its statement Saturday, saying only that in addition to the military targets, it struck 'further sites.'

A huge plume of smoke rises above Gaza after Israeli warplanes struck another target in the territory

Israelis watch the bombardment of Gaza from a hill overlooking the territory

Israeli aircraft fire rockets at targets in eastern Gaza. Israel said it has carried out 1,320 attacks on militant targets

Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf
al-Kidra yesterday said the death toll there had reached more than 156,
with over 1,060 wounded. Among the dead was a nephew of Ismail Haniyeh, a
top Hamas leader, who was killed in an airstrike near his home, Hamas
officials said.

Though the
exact breakdown of casualties remains unclear, many of the dead have
been civilians. Israel also demolished dozens of homes it said were used
by Hamas for military purposes.

'Am
I a terrorist? Do I make rockets and artillery?' screamed Umm Omar, a
woman in the southern town of Rafah whose home was destroyed in an
airstrike. It was not immediately known why the building was targeted.

Despite intensified Israeli military action militants continued to launch rocket after rocket across the border.

A long-range burst on Sunday morning triggered air raid sirens at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion international airport, which has not been struck in the hostilities and where flights have been operating normally, and some city suburbs.

On Saturday night, Hamas - the Islamist movement that rules Gaza - made good on a threat to send rockets streaking toward Tel Aviv at 9pm (6pm GMT) and other areas in heavily populated central Israel.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis sought shelter as Palestinians in the streets of Gaza City cheered the launchings, the biggest strike yet on the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Those rockets and the ones unleashed on Sunday were intercepted by the Israeli-built, U.S.-funded Iron Dome missile defence system that has proved effective against Hamas's most powerful weaponry.

A handful of Israelis have been wounded by rockets that slipped through, but none have been killed. The frequent rocket fire has disrupted daily life in Israel, with most staying close to home, although pictures have shown packed beaches in Israeli cities as close as 50 miles from Gaza.

During Saturday night's barrage, customers in Tel Aviv beachfront cafes shouted their approval as they watched the projectiles being shot out of the sky.

One casualty of the conflict has been a concert planned by veteran rock star Neil Young in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, for Thursday. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the show was cancelled by police 'in order not to put people in Gaza rocket range at unnecessary risk'.

Some 30,000 people had bought tickets to the Canadian singer-songwriter's show that was to be held at Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park, a representative for the show's organisers, the Shuki Weiss production company, told Reuters.

A social worker picks up a wheelchair from rubble after a home for the disabled in Gaza City which was destroyed by Israeli air strikes yesterday

Two patients were killed and four others were wounded in the strike, after social workers were unable to evacuate all the residents in time

Israeli airstrikes meanwhile have
turned bustling Gaza City into a virtual ghost town during the normally
festive month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, emptying streets, closing
shops and keeping hundreds of thousands of people close to home.

The
offensive marks the heaviest fighting since a similar eight-day
offensive in November 2012 to stop Gaza rocket fire. The outbreak of
violence follows the kidnappings and murders of three Israeli teenagers
in the West Bank, and the kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian
teenager in an apparent revenge attack.

Egypt's state news agency said that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had met with Tony Blair, envoy for the so-called Quartet of United Nations, European Union, Russia and United States, in efforts to secure a truce.

An Israeli government official said Blair had met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday. 'There are no serious contacts toward a truce. There are many proposals, but as long as Hamas keeps firing, Israel will keep fighting and will not discuss a truce,' the official said.

Cairo played a crucial role in mediating a truce that ended an eight-day war between Hamas and Israel in 2012, when Egypt was governed by Hamas's Muslim Brotherhood allies.

Egypt's current military-backed government is locked in a feud with Hamas over the group's alleged support for jihadi militants in Egypt's Sinai desert - Hamas denies supporting the militants. That could complicate Cairo's efforts at mediation.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: 'We will not beg for calm and we continue to defend our people. Once we are offered a genuine, coherent and serious proposal, we will look into it.'

At
the United Nations, a Security Council statement approved by all 15
members called for de-escalation of the violence, restoration of calm,
and a resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and
Palestinians aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace agreement based on
a two-state solution.

The
statement also called for 'the reinstitution of the November 2012
cease-fire,' which was brokered by Egypt, but gives no time frame for
when it should take effect.

The
statement, which is not legally binding, is the first response by the
U.N.'s most powerful body, which has been deeply divided on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The
Arab League meanwhile said foreign ministers from member states will
hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday about the offensive.

Israeli attack on Gaza sparks protests across the world

Today protesters in cities across the world took to the streets to demand that the international community takes action against Israel for its continuing attack on Gaza.

As people in Gaza endured strike after strike by the Israeli air force, there were demonstrations in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Chile, the U.S. and Syria condemning what many see as the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Israel says its attacks, which in six days have killed more than 160 people and injured more than a thousand, are aimed at stopping the hundreds of Hamas rocket attacks fired into Israel in recent days.

Indonesian Muslim protesters shout slogans during a rally against the Israeli attack on Gaza, in Jakarta, Indonesia today

Two Lebanese men carry a fake missile to protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza

At the United Nations, a Security Council statement approved by all 15 members called for de-escalation of the violence, restoration of calm, and a resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians

Indian protestors hold placards as they take part in a rally against Israeli attacks on Gaza in New Delhi today

An Afghan policeman stands next to a protest banner, during a rally against Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territories, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan today

Hundreds of Syrian protesters hold anti-Israel banners and posters, Syrian and Palestinian flags during a sit-in in front of the UN office in Damascus, Syria

People march in Hong Kong protest today against Israel's military campaign in Gaza